Human activities differentially threaten amphibian ecomorphs

LESCANO J.N.; NORI, JAVIER; BOLOCHIO, BRUNA

Congreso; XIX Congreso Argentino de Herpetología; 2018

Habitats requirements exert a strong influence on the morphological evolution of amphibians. Some ecomorphs have evolved repeatedly in different times and locations, sharing characteristics that are related with vertical stratification and microhabitat use. As consequence, some of these ecomorphs(e.g. terrestrial) are widely distributed, while others (e.g. torrential) are geographically restricted. Therefore, given the unevenness in the distribution of land use changes across the globe, it is expected that human interventions threat differentially the ecomorphs. In this study, we determined the overlapbetween pattern of richness of amphibian ecomorphs and human-dominated landscapes for current and future scenarios. We downloaded digital range maps from IUCN and considered seven ecomorphs: Aquatic (108 species); Arboreal (1151); Burrowing (117); Semi-aquatic (216); Semi-arboreal (253), Terrestrial (1130) and Torrential (163). Layers for 2015?s land cover were downloaded from ESA Climate Change Initiative, and 2050?s from Institute for Environmental Studies. We used the maptools, raster, and LetsR packages of R to generate a bivariate global map showing high expected richness overlapped with human-modified landscapes for each period. Burrowing and Semi-aquatic were the ecomorphs with the highest human pressures in their hotspots, for current and future scenarios. Terrestrial, Torrential and Arboreal ecomorphs are partially well preserved for the currentscenario, but the picture could get worse in the future. Finally, Semi-arboreal and Aquatic, had theirhotspots well preserved for the both scenarios. Thus, although all ecomorphs are important, someone deserves more conservation attention than others